This week in the NBA

[alfdogg 0]

Sunday

Houston @ San Antonio, 1 PM ET, ABC

Philadelphia @ LA Lakers, 7:30 PM ET, ESPN

 

Wed, ESPN

Philadelphia @ Phoenix, 10 PM ET

 

Thu, TNT

Cleveland @ Chicago, 8 PM ET

Minnesota @ LA Lakers, 10:30 PM ET

 

Fri, ESPN

Sacramento @ Cleveland, 8 PM ET

San Antonio @ Denver, 10:30 PM ET

[Steviekick 0]

I'll definitely be checking out both of those Sixers games. Houston/SA should be fun.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Looks like Chucky Atkins days as a Laker are over.

 

Taken from the Los Angeles times

 

Atkins, sitting in front of his locker that used to belong to Shaquille O'Neal, was asked by a reporter before the game what moves he would make during the off-season to improve the Lakers.

 

"I ain't the GM of this team," he said. "Kobe's the GM of this team. Ask Kobe. You've been watching this [stuff] all year. You've been watching it and I've been playing in it."

 

Pressed further, Atkins said, "I don't want to answer these questions. It's Easter."

 

Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak, in Indiana to scout a high school all-star game, declined to comment.

 

Atkins has been bothered by the number of shots Bryant takes and gets irritated when Bryant criticizes him in private for faulty defense, team sources said.

 

Bryant did not sense a permanent rift with Atkins.

[Guest Vitamin X]

"I can only take 3 point shots in a game, and draw a ridiculous amount of stupid fouls to make up for my sloppy defense which I get called out on and don't quite appreciate, so I'm just going to criticize the star player of this franchise in ways he's been criticized before to get people here to like me again!"

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Yeah really. Who is Chucky Atkins to bust on anyone for taking a lot of shots, especially someone as talented as Kobe.

 

I liked him better when he came up with that great weight loss plan.

[Precious Roy 0]

"I ain't the GM of this team," he said. "Kobe's the GM of this team. Ask Kobe."

 

BURN!

[Ripper 0]

"I can only take 3 point shots in a game, and draw a ridiculous amount of stupid fouls to make up for my sloppy defense which I get called out on and don't quite appreciate, so I'm just going to criticize the star player of this franchise in ways he's been criticized before to get people here to like me again!"

Well, I think he does a little more than that.

 

MAYBE Kobe is fucking up the team chemistry with his style of play. I mean, if the coach says it, other players say it. MAYBE...Just MAYBE it MIGHT have some validity to it.

[alfdogg 0]

Those who know Atkins shouldn't be surprised that this would come from him. The guy is worthless when he's not making threes, yet he somehow becomes one of the most hated guys on whatever team he joins because of his big mouth. I hated him on the Pistons, I hated him on the Celtics, and I hate him now on the Lakers.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I like this upcoming Bulls schedule. They're 38-31 now and here's the rest of the season.

 

@ Charlotte

Cleveland

Charlotte

@ Miami

@ Orlando

@ New York

Toronto

Detroit

@ Washington

Orlando

@ Atlanta

New York

@ Indiana

 

I count 10 winnable games.

[Guest Flyboy]

Although, McGrady was in the lousy East at the time...

 

McGrady with his own team > Kobe with his own team.

 

There, I said it.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Nope.

[Ripper 0]

Although, McGrady was in the lousy East at the time...

 

McGrady with his own team > Kobe with his own team.

 

There, I said it.

McGrady is still doing it with his own team.

[Guest Flyboy]

But, he has a a bit more help than he ever had in Orlando.

[Ripper 0]

Yeah, no doubt, but I am saying that you don't even have to go to the Orlando days to see Tracy carrying a team. Right now, you got Tracy, Yao, and to some extent Wesley(he is only putting up 11 ppg) and thats it. Kobe/Odem/Atkins/Butler/ are all putting up 14+ points a game.

 

Tracy is just a better all around player than Bryant.

[Guest Crazy Dan]

Houston is becoming the "team no wants to face." As T-Mac and Yao become more comfortable playing with one another, they become a very tough duo to deal with, especially in the West where the best Center was traded to the Heat. Van Gundy might look like he needs to get more than 1 hour of sleep and also like he has never shot a ball in his life, but he is a good coach and he is getting the Rockets to play some good ball. I am not sure who is the better player between T-Mac and Kobe, but right now T-Mac is on the team headed to the playoffs and Kobe's Lakers are in danger of finishing with a worse record than the Clippers. The one knock I have against Kobe being compared to Jordon is that Jordon made his teammates play up to and above their abilities. Kobe still does not demonstrate this ability enough and his teammates have also not responded to him the way Jordon's did. Either way, the Lakers are in deep trouble and will need fixing in order to be a contender again.

[Ripper 0]

More than that if you ask me. Kobe makes his players worse, mostly because he completely deviates from offensive sets. Its the equivilant of the quarterback calling a running play in the huddle and throwing it downfield after the ball is hiked. When you practice a certain way and one player(and in this case, the one with the ball) decides not to run it, you will leave the rest of them standing around. not know where to go or what to do because they will have no idea WHAT the hell to do.

 

I understand he thinks he has to carry the team, but simply put, he has no experience in doing it. Maybe in a few years, but Tracey has been carrying teams for years, and looking at the decline in players that played with him in Orlando after they were traded, I think it is obvious that he is alot better at it.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Here's a better question, who is better between T-Mac and Lebron?

[Ripper 0]

Here's a better question, who is better between T-Mac and Lebron?

I say probably Lebron. He is a very underrated defender (as is Mcgrady, but I think he is a lil better) he is on par as a shooter as Tracy, a better passer...the guy is just amazing. People just don't really know how really good he is.

 

But really, Lebron/Mcgrady. Whoever comes in second, still is amazing.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I think Lebron still needs a bit of time, but he's definitely up there. McGrady is grossly overrated though.

 

I understand he thinks he has to carry the team, but simply put, he has no experience in doing it. Maybe in a few years, but Tracey has been carrying teams for years, and looking at the decline in players that played with him in Orlando after they were traded, I think it is obvious that he is alot better at it.

 

Um.. didn't the Magic have a much better year this season than they have in the past with McGrady? I know they dropped off quite a bit from where they were earlier this season, but that argument doesn't prove anything.

 

Personally, I believe the problem lies on the Lakers' lack of depth and the coaching. At the beginning of the season they started playing a more fullcourt type game with Rudy T., and when he resigned halfway through the season with the Lakers hanging on and still working on their chemistry at the #6 spot (not to mention barely because Kobe was injured), it fucked them up for the rest of the season. Hamblen is a Phil Jackson holdover, and what he was trying to do was reinstate the triangle mixed with the fullcourt game they were playing earlier this season. All but four of the current Lakers (those being Kobe, the injured Devean George, Luke Walton, and *sigh* Slava Medvedenko) are brand new to the team and had no concept of the triangle offense, which is said to take about a couple years to learn and master.

 

Even with Shaq, the Lakers probably would be struggling right now just simply because of their lack of depth, which was grossly exposed in the Finals by Detroit, and pretty much the reason they were not only able to beat, but dominate the Lakers. They'd have a much better presence inside obviously, but Hamblen is simply awful as a coach and ever since he took over has run them right out of the playoffs. This reminds me of when Magic Johnson took over as coach in 93-94 and they lost 10 straight games to end the season, missing the playoffs for the first time since the 75-76 season.. Pretty much looks like the same scenario here, and they'll miss the playoffs for only the second time since that season.

[Sass 0]

Where's the love for Kevin Garnett? Or Tim Duncan?

 

I think the T-Mac love is too homerism here along with my appreciate for Kobe's skills. I gained a whole new level of respect for Garnett last season and I was sorry to see his team fall to shambles this season since I thought he had another shot at the Finals with his team. He almost beat the Lakers with help from Crime Spree who I wish Lamar Odom could have morphed into this season. Playing ability wise, not coach choking.

 

In the games I've seen with the two playing against each other, Kobe played better defense than T-Mac. I'm not sure if that's the general case though. I haven't watched enough Rockets games this season to form an opinion. But, the last couple of seasons I caught some Magic games against the Lakers and Clippers, T-Mac wasn't playing much defense, if any. Kobe hustled hard and I was surprised at the lack of it from T-Mac.

 

However, T-Mac is a better leader on the court than Kobe is. That's become apparent after this season. T-Mac gets his guys to play up to his level while Kobe is off in his own world. It was the same way when the Lakers actually had a playoff caliber team. He just played in his own world and still does. He is the force on the Lakers right now but he needs to grant the other players some of that unGodly ability so that they might be able to put up 20 + a night too.

 

T-Mac and Kobe have both acted like punks in their careers while I have never seen a single punk card moment from KG, on or off the court. He's a class act and appears to be a stand up guy. Same thing with Tim Duncan. I like'em both and will always respect their ability to go out and do their job without raising up a stink about something or bringing their outside problems to work. Kobe and T-Mac could learn something from those two. Really.

 

Switching gears...

 

If the Bryant/Odom/Atkins/Butler group were averaging 14 + PPG then the Lakers would still be in the playoffs. Aside from Kobe, everyone else in that group is wildly inconsistent. One day Atkins can have 23 points, 3 3's and a couple assists. The next game, he puts up 8 points with a couple assists and no 3's to speak of. Same deal with guys like Odom and Butler who have been atrocious to watch on defense sometimes where both guys look like they're aimlessly looking around for the ball while Kobe, Mihm and Atkins (sorta) try to defend against the ball.

 

Kobe shouldn't be getting the ball run through him. He needs to have as much pressure taken off him as possible. Run it through Odom or Butler. You were right about this when you mentioned it in the other NBA Week thread Ripper. Spot on.

 

On the topic, Atkins is a glorified bench warmer who is 30 years old and will probably not improve his numbers any further past this season. He's a big mouth who is a 5 or 6th man at best and is replaceable. Unfortunately, he's the best guard the Lakers have at starter so circumstances have made Atkins the starter, not because he has the talent to warrant such a spot. He also shouldn't have opened up his mouth the way he did. The media *love* to pounce on stuff like that. In fact, Atkins came back out and said his words were "wildly twisted" so now he's back tracking or attacking the way his comments were reported. A team shouldn't have to deal with that nonsense (every team, not just the Lakers).

 

The only guy who should criticize a team and it's players is the coach. That's it. The players just need to go out there and do their job without raising a fuss about something. If something's wrong, take it to behind closed doors with the people involved. Lamar Odom has been hounded by the local press all season for his "subpar" season and all he says is "I'm sorry, I know I need to work on my game and will do my best" and leaves it at that. He's said that all season whenever the LA press has interviewed him and I gained a little more respect for Odom by not passing the buck off to someone else like Kobe and Atkins have done this season. Odom seems to have his head on straight after being like perma-stoned when he was with the Clippers. His time in Miami seems to have done something to him.

 

I mean, when Frank Hamblen says a team quit in the 2nd half, they quit in the 2nd half. He's been around basketball for over 30 years and probably knows what a team looks like when they hustle and what they look like when they're dogging it. Just a hunch. I think the team did dog it too. Kobe and Atkins might have come out and countered the coach by saying "I don't think we dogged it at all" but the final score on the board says otherwise. That last game the Lakers played against the Nuggets *was* sorry. The Lakers are a bad team right now and they need to improve, not come up with excuses to placate their insecure egos about how good they still are. This will be a heck of an interesting off-season for the Lakers by seeing who they dump and keep for the next season. I think Atkins might have just sent in his walking papers after this latest outburst.

 

Frank Hamblen shouldn't have to put up with this infantile crap. No one should. Kobe does need to be reigned in before something (or someone) explodes on him. Sooner, rather than later.

[Sass 0]

LeBron is a kid playing in a man's body. He can bang on the boards with the best of them. When Karl Malone was asked last season on the Best Damn Sports Show Period what he'd do if he saw James try to drive on him, he said something along the lines of "young fella might end up on his rear," and all I said was "yeah right Mailman" and shook my head.

 

Also, I'm going to call it here: James is going to be Knick come '08/'09.

 

LeBron is going to make the Knicks a franchise team once again when he signs with them. New York is going to get him too. The money that team will be able to throw out to LeBron when his contract comes up will be sick. All their current ugly contracts will be gone and the team will have money to spend. They'll probably sign him to the richest deal in NBA history too. Barring injuries, he's probably going to get a couple of championship rings before he turns 30.

[Brett Favre 0]

LeBron becoming a Knick..I would die a happy man.

[Sass 0]

I think '08 is when James' contract with Cleveland is up and allows him to pursue other deals. I'd bet the farm that Isiah Zeke Thomas has the date marked down on his calendar with James' cell number on speed dial.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

McGrady gave up at times on defense last season, which tends to happen when your team has no hope. That is not an excuse for him, just an indication that he was not playing to his ability.

 

Sass, I don't know where the bad attitude rep comes from for McGrady. He's been a class act from what I have seen, and he is a far cry from what I see out of Kobe Bryant off the court.

 

Someone mentioned that Orlando is better without McGrady this season than they were last season. That is true. But Orlando also has Steve Francis, a healthy Grant Hill, Hedo Turkoglu and Dwight Howard. Last season it was McGrady and four black holes. This team is more balanced.

 

As for McGrady vs. Lebron, that is a good question. It is very, very close right now. I'd be forced to say James, but that is just an educated quess.

[Ripper 0]

Vita, how can you call Tracy overrated. He is averaging 25 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assist, 2 steals, while shooting 43% from the field.

 

Kobe is averaging 28 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assist, 1 steal while shooting 43% from the field.

 

Tracy is winning. Kobe is not.

 

Who is overrated again?

[Guest Vitamin X]

So they have basically the exact same stats, while McGrady has a better team and coaching around him.

 

Thank you for proving my point.

[bob_barron 0]

LeBron becoming a Knick..I would die a happy man.

The Knicks have never been good at getting the top free agents- I don't see it happening.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

So they have basically the exact same stats, while McGrady has a better team and coaching around him.

 

Thank you for proving my point.

Of course, those numbers leave out the fact that Kobe Bryant turns over the ball at a MUCH higher percentage than Tracy McGrady.

[Sass 0]

Sass, I don't know where the bad attitude rep comes from for McGrady.  He's been a class act from what I have seen, and he is a far cry from what I see out of Kobe Bryant off the court.

T-Mac hasn't been charged with raping a girl yet so, no, him and Kobe's off-court shennanigans aren't even in the same ball park.

 

This article doesn't give T-Mac a dressing down but is a good read.

 

The one example that I can give for why I thought T-Mac could act like a punk sometimes was when I read how the Bulls organization were furious with him when he was a FA in '00 after telling Elton Brand, his friend, that he wanted to be the next MJ and was committed to helping rebuild the team, only to spurn them and jump to Orlando.

 

The article doesn't bring that up though. Chalk it up to muck raking by the Tribune I suppose. They own the LA Times and T-Mac's off-season moves got lots of coverage in the local paper when he was a FA, pre-Orlando.

 

Other than a couple public outbursts, I've never thought T-Mac was a cancer or anything like that to his teams. He's grown up and become a hell of a baller. Give him a couple more years, along with maybe some good helping hands, and he'll win a championship sometime down the line. He's too talented to not help take a team to the Finals.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Don't forget the time in 2002 when he met the young man who was wounded by the D.C. snipers. That certainly gives a good impression.